This invention relates generally to trash containers, and more particularly to trash containers which are animal resistant.
More people are moving away from urban centers and into rural areas. People generate garbage, and the communities in these rural areas provide garbage pickup. Residents of the community place their garbage into containers and place the containers near the road each week. The precise time of the garbage pickup is unknown. Thus, the containers are placed near the road and are left unattended for some amount of time. Often, the containers are left unattended overnight.
Leaving garbage containers unattended overnight in a rural area presents a substantial problem due to animals. Many animals, such as possums, bears and raccoons, search for food by invading the garbage containers. When the animals enter the container to search for food, the container is often tipped over and its contents are often strewn about. An eyesore and health hazard is often created, requiring the resident or the garbage collector to clean up the area.
Once an animal learns that food can be obtained from the garbage containers, the animal will continue to attempt to raid the garbage containers, creating an ongoing nuisance to the resident and the community. Ridding the community of the animals conditioned to raid garbage containers causes even more problems. For example, the common way to stop a bear from continually raiding garbage containers is to kill the bear.
Previous animal resistant garbage containers have been unsatisfactory. Most are immobile, thus requiring the garbage container to be positioned near the road so that it may be emptied. However, few people wish their garbage container to be prominently and permanently featured near the front of their home.
Some mobile animal resistant garbage containers often require significant modifications to the trash can so that an animal resistant lid can be used. Due to the time and effort required to make these modifications, this type of mobile animal resistant garbage container is likewise problematic.
Still other mobile animal resistant garbage containers require that the trash have a generally cylindrical or conical shape, so that the mechanism for securing the lid to the trash can fits around the can. However, many trash cans in common use today are generally rectangular rather than cylindrical or conical.
Thus, an improved animal resistant garbage lid for generally rectangular trash cans which can be installed with little modification to the trash can is highly desirable.